The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Astilbe of hybrid origin and will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name, ‘Amber Moon’. ‘Amber Moon’ represents a new Astilbe, an herbaceous perennial grown for landscape use.
The Inventor discovered a naturally occuring leaf mutation on an unlabled Astilbe hybrid in a trial garden in Hubbardston, Mass. in spring of 1989. Based on the characteristics, the parent plant it is thought to be Astilbe ‘Cattleya’ (not patented). A single gold leaf was observed on a compound leaf and after several generations of rhizome division, the new cultivar, Amber Moon’, with gold foliage throughout the plant was selected.
Asexual propagation of the new cultivar was first accomplished by the Inventor by rhizome division in Hubbardston, Mass. in 1994. Asexual propagation by tissue culture and rhizome division has shown that the characteristics of the new cultivar are stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.